The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-08-20

pretty near ever since 1t opened.
run the third through train that cam
out from Chicago. and haven't been OF
the line since, winter or summer. ex
cept for three months when l was lai'
up with a broken leg"
"This must look very different il
winter" said Miss Vaughn, noting tn
treeless distances, and the SHOWS still
glinting on the higher peaks on thu
left.
"You may believe it does! That frs
year, when the snow-sheds WASH
built, it was terrible. l was running
that tram that stuck in the snow sever
days. perhaps you'll remember about
it; it was in all the papers. sham
ever forget that, not if l live to be a:
old as my grandfather, and he didn''
die till he was ninety odd.'
Tell me about it,, said Miss
Vaughn, persuasively, seating herself
on the high side bench Of the cab, with
that air of attention which is so entic.
ing to the story-teller; aMusements are
few and far between in the long monot-
ony Of the overland journey to Califor.
mia; besides which, Miss Vaughn dear.
ly loved story.
There amt much to tell" said John
Scott. with something Of the feel
ing which prompts the young yo-
calist to complain Of hoarseness. II
amt any hand at telling things,
either" Then, won by Miss Vaughn's
appealing eyes, he continued:
ave ran all fair and on time till we
was about two hundred miles beyond
Omaha, Then the snow began. 1t
didn't seem much at first. The
woman-folk in the train rather liked
it. They all crowded to the windows
to see, and the children hurrahed.
Any thing seemed pleasant change
after the e-brush, suppose. But
as it went on coming. and the drifts
grew deep, aud the cars had to run
slow, the older ones began TO look seri.
Gus, and can tell you that we who had
charge of the train felt so.
1--WE was just between two Of the
feeding stations, and we put on all the
steam we could, hoping opush through
to where provisions could be got at in
case we had to stop. But it wasn't no
use. The snow kept coming. Inever
see it come so. The flakes looked as
big as saucers, and the drifts piled so
thick that, when we finally stuck,
in about ten minutes. no one
could see out of the windows.
The train would have been clear
buried over if the brakemen and the
porters hadn't gone the whole length
over the roofs every haf-hour, and
swept it off with brooms and shov-
els We had a lot of shovels abroad,
by good luck. or else nothing could
have saved us from being banked up
outright But it was terrible hard
work, can tell you. There want
no more laughing among the passen.
gers by the time it come to that, and
the children stopped hurrahing."
"Oh, the poor little things! What
did they do9 We're there many on
boardP Was there plenty for them to
eat?"
THAT was the worst Of it. There
wasn't plenty for any one to eat. We
had struck just midway Of the feeding
stations, and there wasn't a great deal
of any thing on board besides what
the passengers had in their lunch
baskets. One lady she had tin of
condensed milk and they mixed that
up for the babies-there was ten of
'em-and so they got on pretty well.
But there was about five other chill
dren. not babies, but quite little, and
don't know what they would have
done if it hadn't been for the young
lady,"
The young lady!" said Miss
Vaughn, looking up with some sur
prise, for with the words curious
tremble came into the engineer voice.
and a:dark flush into his bronzed face.
What young lady was thatp"
1t was moment or two before John
Scott answered the question.
Il don't know what she was called"
he said, slowly. II never knew. She
was the only one on the train, SO we
just called her the young lady. She
was travelling alone, but her folks had
asked the conductor to look after her.
She was going out to some relative of
hers, her brother, / guess, who was
sick down to Sacramento. That was
how she came to be there"
"NNere the children under her care?'
mo, ma'am; she was all alone, rs l
odd you; but she took them under her
,are from the very first. They had
heir fathers and mothers along-threo
II them had, at least, and the other
wo had their mother and nurse girl,
,ut somehow no one but tho young
ady seemed to be able to do any thing
With them. The poor little things was
lalf starved, you sec. and there
wasn't any thing to amuse 'em
IN the dark car, and one Of them, who
was sickly. fretted all day, and most all
night, and the mother didn't seem to